Human brain transcriptome analysis finds region- and subject-specific expression signatures of GABAR subunits.

Altered expression of GABA receptors (GABARs) has been implicated in neurological and psychiatric disorders, but limited information about region-specific GABAR subunit expression in healthy human brains, heteromeric assembly of major isoforms, and their collective organization across healthy individuals, are major roadblocks to understanding their role in non-physiological states. Here, by using microarray and RNA-Seq datasets-from single cell nuclei to global brain expression-from the Allen Institute, we find that transcriptional expression of GABAR subunits is anatomically organized according to their neurodevelopmental origin. The data show a combination of complementary and mutually-exclusive expression patterns that delineate major isoforms, and which is highly stereotypical across brains from control donors. We summarize the region-specific signature of GABR subunits per subject and its variability in a control population sample that can be used as a reference for remodeling changes during homeostatic rearrangements of GABAR subunits after physiological, pharmacological or pathological challenges.